In the fight
of the night at the “Rumble at the Rodeway Inn” in Allentown, PA,
Saturday night junior middleweight Keenan Collins, 15-7-3 (10), of
Reading, PA, stopped George Rivera, 13-8-1 (4), of Charlottesville, VA,
in the eighth and final round scoring 2 knockdowns before referee Gary
Rosato wisely stopped the fight at 1:59. It was the main event on
Marshall Kauffman’s King’s Promotions pro-am at the Rodeway Inn, in
Allentown, PA.This
was a rematch between Collins and Rivera when they fought to a previous
draw in April of 2012. “My corner don’t lie. They said I needed a
knockout going out for the final round,” said Collins. It was a close
fight all the way until the fifth when a right started the action
followed by 4 more punches to halt Rivera in his tracks. In the seventh
and overhand right hurt Rivera who covered up against the ropes until
the bell. In
the final round Collins landed a leady right to the left ear of Rivera
scoring a knockdown. An overhand right dropped Rivera again. He got up
on unsteady legs. Referee Rosato asked him to take a step forward and
wisely waved it off. There was no argument from Rivera. Judge George
Hill had the fight even going into the last round. Marshall Kauffman
trains Collins.

John
“The Apollo Kidd” Thompson kept his unbeaten record, 11-0 (4), of
Newark, NJ, after giving a out pounding from the opening bell to Grayson
Blake, 5-2 (2), of State College, PA. It was a tough fight for Blake to
take after coming off his first loss in November of 2012. Ending
the second round a Thompson right rocked Blake. In the third Blake was
cut on the left eyebrow. Thompson was landing at will with “bad
intensions”. Inside of the final 10 seconds of the fifth round of the
scheduled 6 middleweight bout Thompson landed several right hands to
which Blake had no answer for. The ringside physician called it a halt
after that fifth round in favor of Thompson. Rosato was the referee.

Popular
southpaw Frank DeAlba, 6-1-2 (2), Reading, PA, easily won a 6 round
junior lightweight match over Isaac Suarez, 7-3 (3), of Lancaster, PA.
Suarez suffered a small cut on the right eyebrow. Rosato was the referee
and all 3 judges had it 60-54 for DeAlba.Mark
Rideout, 3-0 (0), of Philadelphia, won a split decision over Eric
Newell, 4-2-1 (2), of Bethlehem, PA, over 4 rounds in the super
heavyweight division. Newell tried keeping Rideout close the whole fight
not giving him any room for his jab. It caused the fight to be on the
boring side with all the clinching giving referee Rosato fits. George
Hill had it 39-37 for Newell while Rose Vargus and Bernard Bruni agreed
with this writer 39-37 for Rideout. He is part of the D&D Management
team.

In
the opener Sammy Quinones, 1-1 (1), of York, PA, was much too strong
for Charles Mack, 0-1-1 (0), of Philadelphia stopping him in 1:42 of the
third round. In the second round Quinones landed a left hook that
buckled the knees of Mack. In the final round of the scheduled 4 round
junior welterweight match a right upper cut hurt James and another right
to the ribcage dropped him. He took the count on a knee.

In
the final match of the night Aaron “Animal” Kinch, 5-1-1 (1), gave Will
Miranda, 6-6-2 (0), of Allentown, PA, his usual war. Miranda has never
seen an easy fight yet. In the third round Miranda received a nasty cut
over the left eye that flowed the rest of the way. There is no quit in
Miranda though it should be taken in consideration in the future. He is
too nice a kid with too big a heart and too small of a punch. The fans
were yelling “Will, Will,” as late as the sixth and final round of this
super heavyweight fight. Kinch gave Miranda a real body beating
throughout. All 3 judges had it 60-54 for Kinch as did this writer.
Rosato was the referee.

King’s Promotion’s is scheduled to put their next show on at the Valley Forge Casino in King of Prussia, PA, on March 16th featuring Harry Joe Yorgey and PA lightweight champ Niam Nelson in
separate 8 rounder’s. Nelson was at ringside tonight as well was Angel
Ocasio of Philadelphia and Travis Thompson of Pottstown, all PA
lightweights. Jeremy Stauffer and Elvin Sanchez fought a draw in
November and will be in a re-match on this card. Camden’s Jason Sosa and
Philly’s Tim Witherspoon, Jr. will also be in separate bouts along with
debut of Philly’s Sulhtan Staton. Looks to be a good night of boxing!